There are applications with requirements to sealably join two reservoirs while simultaneously opening a communication path between the reservoirs such as might be required to add a reagent to a chemical mixture, or for connecting reservoirs of toxic fluids or gasses which cannot interact with the surrounding environment. Some industrial examples are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,279,497; 4,496,959; 5,293,902; and 6,354,564, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In the medical field, there are requirements to sealably connect and disconnect fluid reservoirs without contamination of the outside environment by the contents of the reservoirs, or vice-versa. Such reservoirs may consist of tubes, sacs, vials, bottles, etc. Some examples are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,279,497; 4,496,959; 5,293,902; and 6,354,564, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. Some medical-use examples are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,889,527; 5,496,300; and 5,536,262, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Many applications in the offshore industries require connectors that can be repeatedly mated and de-mated in hostile environments, such as seawater. These wet-mateable connectors include electrical connectors, fiber-optical connectors and hybrid electro-optical connectors. Some examples of wet-mateable connectors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,848; 5,685,727; 5,738,535; 5,838,857; 6,017,227; 6,095,838; 6,322,787; 6,736,545; 7,004,638; 7,244,132; 7,648,285; US Patent Application 20090080836, and EPO Patent 0538089A1, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.